CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The Vols found themselves on the wrong end of a thriller.

Tennessee baseball took a crushing 7-3 defeat in 14 innings to East Carolina to open the Chapel Hill Regional. The Vols (38-21) move into the losers’ bracket and will face the loser of the North Carolina-VCU matchup with their season on the line, while ECU (37-22-1) advances to the winners’ bracket.

“What a crazy game,” head coach Josh Elander said after the game. “Lot of back and forth, a lot of guys competing at a high level in a great environment, but they were a little better about executing than we were today.”

It was a battle of lefties as Evan Blanco took the mound for Tennessee, while Ryan Towers toed the rubber to start for ECU. Each pitcher cruised through the opening frames, with Towers mowing through the Vols’ offense the first time through the order with efficiency. Blanco ran into trouble in the third inning, as the Pirates drew a pair of hits from the bottom of the lineup, but escaped the jam with a 6-4-3 double play to keep the game scoreless through the opening stanza.

After the first 10 batters were sat down for Tennessee, Blake Grimmer broke through in big fashion, lashing a solo shot to deep right to open the scoring. Not to be outdone, however, ECU responded the next half inning with a Nick Parham RBI single to level the score at one apiece.

Despite each team threatening in the middle innings, neither offense produced a run until the ninth inning, when Davin Whitaker launched the first pitch of the inning from Brandon Arvidson for a go-ahead home run. Trailing 2-1 into the bottom of the ninth and down to their last out, Henry Ford delivered a shocking game-tying home run to level the score at two apiece.

After trading runs in the 13th inning, the decisive swing came from Walker Barron, who homered off of Will Haas, and the Pirates blew the game open with a four-run 14th inning to put the Vols away.

Strong arms

After struggling in the SEC tournament, Blanco picked a perfect time to rediscover his form. The senior twirled seven strong innings, scattering seven hits and striking out four to give up a lone run. Despite the constant base traffic, the senior worked into and out of trouble all day for the Vols.

“Obviously, it’s been a while since I’ve pitched in the postseason, but used that experience to my advantage,” Blanco said. “Just to be able to go out there and execute my stuff in big situations, there were a few times where I had guys in scoring position with less than two outs and I got a few big outs.”

Bo Rhudy came on in the ninth inning, trying to keep the game at 2-1. He then delivered a career-long outing, giving Tennessee four strong innings and only being tagged for a run in the 13th on a squeeze play.

“He was good, he gave us a chance right there,” Elander said.

Lost in the defeat will be the valiant efforts of Blanco and Rhudy, who gave the Vols a chance all day.

Late-inning struggles

The Vols had plenty of chances in extra innings to steal a win. In the 11th inning, they put the winning run at second base with one out. They came up empty. In the 12th inning, they put the winning run at third base with one out. Again, they came up empty.

“Got guys into position to drive them in, especially second and third, they were being aggressive on defense, bringing the infield in,” Elander said. “That’s a spot that you practice a ton in the fall and early spring, and our guys have traditionally executed a little bit better, but weren’t able to today.”

One hit could have dramatically changed the calculus of the weekend for Tennessee. Now the Vols face elimination.

Rally time

After an excruciating loss, Tennessee finds itself needing to gather and rally to keep its season alive. Despite losing in such a dramatic fashion, Elander said having their backs against the wall “can be a powerful thing.”

“There should be no extra motivation to come to the yard tomorrow,” Elander said.

With a gassed bullpen and an offense sorely needing confidence, the Vols will hand the ball off to Tegan Kuhns to keep their season alive. They’ll face off with the loser of the UNC-VCU game on Saturday.